Editor’s Note: The original intention of the “30 Years of Notre Dame on NBC” series was to set the stage for the 30th year of the partnership. But then 2020 intervened with a fury, and the season did not grant the time to publish the last half dozen entries. As 2020’s reach lengthens 2021’s winter doldrums, there is no reason not to walk down those memory lanes now.
The play call stood out as much as the call for silence that punctuated it. When Ian Book found the front corner of the end zone, hardly pursued, he made Irish offensive coordinator Chip Long look like a genius just as he confirmed how foolish many Notre Dame fans were the week before the Irish beat Virginia Tech, 21-20, in 2019.